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| Marc |
 Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:06 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| I plan to see An Education this week. It is finally playing near me in Austin. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:11 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Kristin Thompson has me considering to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
EDIT: Which promptly left town before I could see it. |
Last edited by Syd on Wed Dec 09, 2009 3:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:54 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:28 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| An Education is wonderful. Carey Mulligan is the most exciting young actress I've seen in years. I'm going to post more later. See this movie! |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:38 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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Marc wrote: Billy,
I give credit to the author of The Time Traveler,s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. She went to school in Chicago. Radio station WXRT in Chicago (one of the great FM rock stations) played the shit out of my albums when they were released. In fact, they still do. One of my songs "Home Of The Brave" is one of the most requested songs on the station and has been for almost 25 years.
Niffenegger was probably a listener, thus she included my band in her book
Wow. That's pretty cool. Quite the honor, I'd say. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:34 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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AN EDUCATION. (spoilers)
Carey Mulligan how do I love thee, let me count the ways.
Carey Mulligan gives a star making performance as Jenny in An Education. But, it's not flashy. It's richly textured, subtle, charming and seductive. As a young, supremely intelligent 16 year old British school girl in love with French pop music, she has the perfect look - a combination of Jane Asher and Francoise Hardy. As she grows a little more worldly she takes on some of the grace and sophistication of Audrey Hepburn. She absolutely shines.
All the performances are stellar. Alfred Molina plays the conservative father with just the right amount of consternation and warmth making him both infuriating and lovable. Olivia Williams, as the uptight schoolmarm that has a deep pool of soul beneath her chilly surface, is terrific. My only reservation is Peter Sarsgaard who plays the older man, the duplicitous David. I found it hard to believe that the smart and wise beyond her years Jenny would fall for such an obvious snake in the grass. From the moment he makes his entrance, David seemed slimy to me. That Jenny didn't pick up on it took me slightly out the film. Also, Jenny makes a decision mid-point in the movie when she decides to stick with David after discovering the first of his dirty secrets that seems jarringly out of character. I would have bolted. And in one scene when David asks Jenny to use inane baby talk while seducing her, he comes off like a suave Son Of Sam. And then there is the banana as sex toy scene. Jenny run for it!
An Education is so good in so many ways that these flaws, while important ones, don't destroy the film. The movie was based on a memoir by Lynne Barber, so screenwriter Nick Hornby may have been working from actual events. For the sake of believability, director Lone Scherfig should have worked a little more on the tone of those scenes. Frankly, I wish someone else had been cast to play David. With his squinty eyes and big bad wolf grin, Sarsgaard looks scary from the get go....and he has little sex appeal. The real seducer should have been Danny, David's friend, played by Dominic Cooper. There is a scene when Danny and Jenny are Twisting to a pop song, their eyes fixed on each other, time stops for a moment, and nothing else exists in the world but them. This is a love you can believe in...even if you aren't just 16.
Carey Mulligan is truly one of those actresses you can't take your eyes off of. I hope to be SEEING a lot more of her. I pray she chooses the right roles. |
Last edited by Marc on Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Marc--How fascinating that you should dislike the performance I thought was the very best in the film. Carey Mulligan, in my opinion, has been rather overpraised for a charming performance that does not have star written all over it. She is terrific in the role, but no Audrey Hepburn in training, despite (possibly because of) the probability that she's a better actress than Hepburn ever was. The comparison with Jane Asher was remarkably on the nose. Charming, fine actress, no star. I may be wrong, but time will tell.
(SPOILER AHEAD)
Sarsgaard is a great actor, one of the greatest of his generation, and he almost tops himself in this movie. (He may never top his astonishing performance in Shattered Glass.) Yes, yes, yes, I knew he was a snake from his first entrance, and so would every man in the audience. Importantly, my wife was completely taken in by him, and I would suspect a great many women in the audience were as well. Even more importantly, I found the rotter indescribably charming myself. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:54 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Spoiler alert.
Billy, I do not deny that Sarsgaard is brilliant in An Education. There is a vulnerability and fear beneath the surface of the performance that deepens the character of David. Something doomed. I think David really really loves Jenny (how could he not) and this is something he wasn't expecting - the game becomes the real thing. David's charms are undeniable, but they did not seduce me, therefore I couldn't imagine them seducing Jenny. Dominic Cooper's Danny, on the other hand, was someone I could see Jenny falling for (and I think she did). The problem dramatically is Danny doesn't have David's intelligence and manipulative skills. So, it wouldn't have worked. But, I'm creating another movie instead of reviewing the actual thing.
Sarsgaard has two scenes that humanized him for me: the scene where he practically begs Jenny to marry him and the one where he is sitting in his car struggling with the decision of whether to confess to the parents or not. The unflappable David is seen for the scared needy child he really is.
Didn't the baby talk and banana creep you out? Why did Jenny stick around?
Carey Mulligan is going to be big if she chooses her roles wisely.
Did you notice that Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky) played David's long suffering wife. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:48 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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| I did. I did. I was surprised she had such a small role. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 6:00 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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SPOILERS, maybe:
I didn't see Sarsgaard as a snake. I thought he was an unassuming, regular bloke from the beginning. Dumb, maybe but fun. His friends set off the alarm for me. And the movie made sense: when you're a smart, curious girl with dull, unworldly parents why wouldn't want to attach to someone who would open things up for you? Luckily, she found herself in the end. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 6:10 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Salt Lake City
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I'm trying to think of other movies with Sarsgaard in them, but the only one that comes to mind is Garden State with Zack Braff. His role in that movie was very good and I enjoyed watching his moves and listening to his dialogue.
Will have to put AN EDUCATION on my list. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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chillywilly wrote: I'm trying to think of other movies with Sarsgaard in them, but the only one that comes to mind is Garden State with Zack Braff. His role in that movie was very good and I enjoyed watching his moves and listening to his dialogue.
Will have to put AN EDUCATION on my list.
See Sarsgaard in Boys Don't Cry and be impressed. See him in Shattered Glass and become a disciple. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:30 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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billyweeds wrote: chillywilly wrote: I'm trying to think of other movies with Sarsgaard in them, but the only one that comes to mind is Garden State with Zack Braff. His role in that movie was very good and I enjoyed watching his moves and listening to his dialogue.
Will have to put AN EDUCATION on my list.
See Sarsgaard in Boys Don't Cry and be impressed. See him in Shattered Glass and become a disciple.
WORD!! |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:41 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: chillywilly wrote: I'm trying to think of other movies with Sarsgaard in them, but the only one that comes to mind is Garden State with Zack Braff. His role in that movie was very good and I enjoyed watching his moves and listening to his dialogue.
Will have to put AN EDUCATION on my list.
See Sarsgaard in Boys Don't Cry and be impressed. See him in Shattered Glass and become a disciple.
Adding those 2 movies to my Netflix list. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:56 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| The Blind Side isn't a very good movie, but it's entertainment that entertains and that's enough, apparently, to make it potentially the most successful sports movie in history. The film is making buckets of money and may win the Oscar for star Sandra Bullock, who is absolutely fine in the role of a rich Southern woman who takes in a homeless African-American youth. He then becomes a world-class football star named Michael Oher. It's a true story and told with professional competence if not inspiration, and although the ending almost dares you not to cry, yet it's not insulting or shameless, and Bullock is at her best. Almost needless to say, the performance is not Oscar-worthy, but if she wins no one will complain because she's one of the only current A-list stars who's never won. |
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